Crescenta Valley High boys' tennis doubles up Hoover

Tennis: Falcons' doubles, readiness lead them past Tornadoes, 12-6.

April 25, 2014|By Grant Gordon, grant.gordon@latimes.com

LA CRESCENTA — In a matchup that would loom large in the Pacific League boys’ tennis standings, the biggest keys in Friday afternoon’s matchup between host Crescenta Valley High and Hoover came down to doubles and, plain and simple, one team being prepared to play and the other being just the opposite.

“We were prepared this time,” said Falcons Coach Sam Hyun following his team’s 12-6 league win over the Tornadoes. “I talked to them in practice about being mentally prepared and ready to play. It worked pretty well today.”

Crescenta Valley (10-4, 8-3 in league) avenged an earlier 10-8 loss to Hoover (8-7, 6-4) based largely on the strength of its doubles squads, which won eight of nine sets. The Falcons are now a half a match in front of Glendale (7-3) for second place in league, while Hoover sits in fourth.

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“That time, our doubles didn’t have a good chemistry with their partners,” Hyun said. “Now, today, we got eight of nine in doubles — that is a very good performance.”

And Hoover was very much off, which Hoppe credited, at least in part, due to a scheduling snafu, as Hoover had the match listed on its schedule for Wednesday, while Crescenta Valley had it scheduled for Friday.

“I think they just mentally, were not here,” Hoppe said of her Tornadoes. “We didn’t play very well today.”

Hoover’s Emile Ohanyan had the most impressive day, registering a 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 sweep, while Hrant Agakhanyan won a pair of sets, 6-4, 6-1. Still Crescenta Valley took four of nine singles sets, as well, marked by the improvement of Jonathan Frink, who had a pair of wins, 7-5, 6-3. Albert Chychyan and Ted Yang also had singles wins for the Falcons.